Principal Planner

Kevin Garcia, AICP, CNU-A

Kevin is a principal planner with over 15 years of experience in local and regional planning. He joined McKenna in 2025 after serving as a senior planner, and later principal planner and zoning administrator, for the City of Urbana, Illinois, since 2014.

Kevin is passionate about working to create and sustain places for people, places that people can care about, places that respect human dignity. He takes pride in working collaboratively with community members to make understandable, implementable plans, in writing zoning codes and regulations in plain language, without jargon, and in listening to people and translating their thoughts and desires into policies and plans.

Kevin has a track record of fostering strong relationships with business owners, developers, board members, and the public. He has brought more than one hundred planning and zoning cases before boards, commissions, and city councils, and is known for his ability to listen intently, respond thoughtfully, and keep a calm, professional demeanor. Kevin has also presented at and has led walking and biking tours at numerous conferences for the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA-IL).

Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Illinois State University and a Masters of Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois-Chicago.